falloutfanonfandomcom-20200222-history
Pure Lands
The Pure Lands is a large swath of land located in south central Oregon, a few miles north of its border with the former state of California. Centered roughly around Mt. McLaughlin, the Pure Lands are roughly 400 square miles in size, about 25 miles east-to-west and 16 miles north-to-south. History The Pure Lands were created in 2269, during the climax of the Purification War. Before the conflict between the Purifiers and other groups in the region concluded, the area was verdant coniferous forest and rocky slopes. At the climax of the conflict, Abigail Doyle, the leader of the Purifiers, purposefully sabotaged equipment in the group’s headquarters in Mt. McLaughlin that kept the volcano from erupting. It erupted when the machinery was destroyed, causing a massive explosion of ash, fire, rock, and lava. The eruption triggered a massive forest fire that destroyed hundreds of square miles, creating the area known as the Pure Lands. The Tree Shepherds are very active in the area, as their headquarters in Crater Lake is just north of the Pure Lands. The fire that created the Pure Lands helped return nutrients from plant matter back to the soil and cleared away unhealthy, dying, and dead vegetation to make room for fresh, healthier plant life. In the two decades or so since the area was created, the Tree Shepherds have been dutifully planting plants. Much of the landscape is lush and reforested, and seems almost primordial thanks to the supercharged soil and the highly potent mana that the group treats seeds with. Sites of Interest ''Hell’s Gate'' Hell's Gate is a cave located in southern Oregon, near the base of Mount McLoughlin, a volcano in the Cascade Range. During Pre-War times, the volcano was inactive, but thanks to shifting tectonics in the area due to the Great War, the volcano became active once again, bleeding molten hot magma and fire from vents and caves at its base and through fissures along its slopes. Hell's Gate is one such site. Hell’s Gate was settled in 2130, when Martin Wheeler and his rag-tag group of followers- the men and women who would become the feared Purifiers- took refuge in the cave during the Great Winter, the cold spell that caused colder-than-normal temperatures, ice, and snow all over the country. The cave was inhabited by Fire Geckos, but the creatures were cleared out to make room for the cult. When the Great Winter ended, Wheeler concluded that the site would be a good permanent location for his cult. Salvaging machinery from nearby locations, the Purifiers installed a rudimentary mechanism to prevent the volcano from erupting wholesale, by keeping the magma pressurized, and began making the cave their own. Knowing that it was only a matter of time before NCR forces capture her at the climax of the Purification War, Abigail Doyle, leader of the Purifiers, intentionally destroyed that machinery, allowing her to gain a pyrrhic victory over the NCR at the expense of her own life, and the lives of virtually every member of the cult she led. As she wanted, the volcano erupted, killing everyone in Hell’s Gate, as well as those in the way of the lava flow and subsequent forest fire. The ruins of the site are buried beneath the rubble and hardened pyroclastic rock. Category:Sites